Can anyone advise on the best luxury cruise lines for teetotallers?

We would very much like to try a luxury cruise line, having only cruised with P and O. Many of them seem to offer free alcoholic drinks as part of the package which would be a complete waste for OH and I as we are teetotal. Any suggestions gratefully received!

maybe Oceania it is a premium line

non alcoholic drinks are included

The luxury lines are pretty much all inclusive. There is not any way around it.

Viking Ocean & River include beer and wine and soft drinks at lunch and dinner

other times, these, 'hard stuff' and better wines are charged - not included in base price

so one might expect the base price to be lower than some other 'all inclusives'

{some cabin classes include in room mini bar and in all cases there IS a beverage package available}

Another vote for Oceania. DH and I rarely, if at all drink alcohol, and after traveling on some of the Luxury Class lines (Silversea, Regent, and Crystal), we found we fit better in a Premium line vs all inclusive. On Oceania, you can order virgin Pina Colada, which IMHO, is awesome, as well as other refreshing smoothies, all included in your fare (as well as all non alcoholic specialty coffees, and all soft drinks). Just us, but we prefer not to subsidize drinkers, but do enjoy the food, service, and peace and quiet of smaller ships.

P&O UK are often considered below the main stream US lines so maybe try one of those first?

Royal comes to mind as they don't really do package deals and their booze is expensive anyway. They also have action packed ships so drinking isn't a focus and sail from the UK and Europe in the warmer seasons.

If you want to take a step up from them then go Celebrity and Princess. Less action packed and more luxury but again...less likely to do packages including drink. These lines are often considered luxury mainstream.

I can personally recommend Celebrity and Royal.

Thank you all for these suggestions - very helpful! We know where to start looking now!

While the comments on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess are right in that you can often book at a price that does not include a drink package, they are not considered to be "luxury" lines. They offer an overall good cruise experience at moderate prices, but are considered more 'mainstream' than luxury. You could, however, upgrade that onboard experience by booking a suite on any of them. Suites, at least on Celebrity and Princess, offer their own dining rooms and upgraded services. Those services will, however, possibly include a stocked mini-bar in your cabin!

Luxury lines include almost everything in their price....whether you use it or not, you still might enjoy the experience.

Mass-market lines don't charge you for booze, unless you want it, but it won't be "luxurious".....

I'd try Crystal. Even though drinks are included, you don't have to drink.

If the price is right, why would you care whether drinks are included for those who chose to drink? Rather than looking at whether the line includes drinks, I'd look at luxury and premium lines for itineraries that interest you and pick one that has a price that suits you. There may be other things that are included in an all-inclusive that you use and others don't (e.g. for my husband, that would be his specialty espresso drink habit). We do drink alcohol, but we are pretty light drinkers - a glass of wine or two at dinner for my husband and less than that for me so I'm sure we don't get our "money's worth" out of the included alcohol.

When we wanted to do an Alaska cruise in 2018, our favorite line, Windstar, didn't have Alaska cruises. I researched all the choices and the ones that were the best fit for what we wanted were HAL or Crystal. In that instance, Crystal was only a bit more expensive than HAL for a very similar itinerary - the balcony price on HAL was the same as the ocean view price on Crystal for the cruises and dates I was comparing.

We certainly appreciated the food quality, level of service, etc. that we got by being on a luxury line as well as the smaller passenger load and more space per passenger. (Never feeling crowded, never having a line.)

I'd also suggest looking at Windstar which is a premium or premium plus line (depending on what you want to call the step below luxury all-inclusive - some people use premium to refer to the nicer end of mainstream lines). Alcohol isn't included (other than a few occasions per cruise such as the welcome aboard drink, Captain's reception and Yacht Club reception) though if you do drink, the prices are reasonable. Just about everything else is included. Their ships have capacities between 140 and ~300.

On Princess the suite mini bar set up can be exchanged for coffee cards.

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I believe all of the true luxury lines include drinks, so I would started checking itineraries of the premium lines - Viking Ocean or Oceania. Viking does provide free beer, wine and soft drinks at lunch & dinner, but free specialty tea & coffee and bottled water 24/7. I believe Oceania includes free soft drinks, tea/coffee and bottled water.

The only luxury line (I know) that does not include alcohol is the German Hapag Lloyd. One of their ships, the Europa 2, is marketed to an international clientele and they are building a luxury expedition ship right now for that market. However, this high end line is not cheaper than alcohol inclusive American luxury ships. There are threads in the luxury ship forum here on cc.

I would look at a premium line like Oceania. Oceania includes all non alcoholic drinks from bottled water, soft drinks to coffee and tea specialties. That does not mean that nobody drinks alcohol on such a ship. I don't think here is any completely alcohol free cruise ship on the oceans.

editorial comment:

IME when you move to a 'premium' line .... we've done WINDSTAR and Viking both river and ocean

you don't see 'stupid drinking' as you can run into on the 'regular' or 'family' lines like Carn, Royal and even Disney to some extent.

These more $$ lines draw a different client

you don't see folks pounding shots or worrying about 'getting their $ worth out of the drink package' ....

much more the one b4 dinner, glass of wine with dinner, MAYBE an after dinner drink ....

***************

there is a thread running around asking 'would you sail on an alcohol free ship?' and as I recall the majority were no ...

Don't forget that Carn' tried a no smoking ship a while back (Paradise) and they couldn't make it work ..... this was not even dealing with lost revenue from the bar sales.

my observation anyway ....

Not teetotal, but we rarely drink and in fact I've never ordered a drink on a cruise, so for us bev. packages are a waste. I know you are interested in luxury lines, but I do know that Princess, at least, and possibly Celebrity often have a 'free' drink package that can be exchanged for OBC if you don't think you will drink enough.

Usually $300 OBC on Princess, depending probably on the length of the cruise. I don't think we'd even get enough value on soft drinks, smoothies, etc.

Also watch prices; often cruises with the included beverage package have their base price increased by--surprise!--the cost of the beverage package. So, not really free.

Another vote for Oceania. DH and I rarely, if at all drink alcohol, and after traveling on some of the Luxury Class lines (Silversea, Regent, and Crystal), we found we fit better in a Premium line vs all inclusive. On Oceania, you can order virgin Pina Colada, which IMHO, is awesome, as well as other refreshing smoothies, all included in your fare (as well as all non alcoholic specialty coffees, and all soft drinks). Just us, but we prefer not to subsidize drinkers, but do enjoy the food, service, and peace and quiet of smaller ships.

I totally agree with this. Oceania seems like the perfect choice in this scenario...and they have fantastic unique itineraries.

The only thing lacking somewhat perhaps, is the on board entertainment, but on their cruises, the ports are the real entertainment...

Then again, none of the luxury lines can offer the on board entertainment that the mass market mega ships can....

Have a look at Seabourn I do not drink alcoholic drinks with the wife having a few drinks over the day and night. We did a cruise with Oceania after a Seabourn cruise having lots of comments from Oceania passengers that they would never cruise on a line that they would never pay for someone elses drinks. My theory is that shipping lines have worked out an average per head for the costs of drinks. Some drink more Some drink less. I do not eat as much as some other passengers so why should I pay the same for meals? Much the same logic. Seaborn the water bottles are free, coffee free flash restaurants free, every passenger is treated the same from the most expensive cabins to the cheapest cabins, etc etc

As I mentioned I do not drink alcohol but the non alcoholic drinks like their fruit cocktails etc would probably be getting up price wise if they were to charge for them

Over all very happy with Seabourn as not having to sign anything every time one gets a drink with no nickle and diming

Just thought I probably should have used the word included Not free

Thank you for all your helpful replies - we’ll definitely have a look at Oceania (with most recommendations!) also Seabourn, Hapag Lloyd, Crystal and Viking - looking forward to perusing their itineraries!

I am similar mind set to the OP

it is not that you do not have to drink if you do not want to it is the alcohol in included in the cruise fare whether you drink or not

Sometimes relating to higher fares

A main stream line is not the same ambiance as a Premium or Luxury line there are many intangibles you just cannot put a price on

Our line of choice is Oceania ...no nickel & diming or pushing drinks everytime you turn around

The entertainment may not be Broadway shows but they are a distraction at the end of the day if you choose to go

they are low key

People should do what works best for them & their needs

JMO

It is always a question of how much you bundle into the fares and how much you charge for separately. You can make the case that everything should be unbundled which is what the airlines do and consider how much we complain about that. The other extreme is that you bundle everything or almost everything which is the approach that the luxury cruises take. I know that in the end if everything is bundled I pay for it with a higher fare but I do not mind this as I am not getting nickeled and dimed constantly over the course of the cruise.

As an example. Most of the time we cruise Azamara because we like the R class ships and the ambiance. They bundle all drinks so over the course of the day we may have a few glasses of wine plus non alcoholic drinks as well as a glass of wine or so w dinner. We have recently taken a cruise on Princess where almost everything is unbundled. When I do a Princess cruise, I drink almost nothing because I do not want to spend the money for drinks.

I am sure that everyone can make a list of stuff on a cruise that we never use and which could be removed to save us money. I am also sure that everyone's list would be different. In the end, either accept total unbundling or figure that it all averages out in the end.

DON

Does an alcoholic drink cost very much more than a non alcoholic drink? The labor is very close, the glass and ice same, the booze is bought at severe discounts. If one does not have an alcoholic drink, you might have bottled water or soda which has an associated cost. Just because historically the cruise lines have made big bucks on drinks does not mean that actual expense is high. I would just look at the cost per night and the itinarary, if the line is providing about the same value then you are not subsiding the alcohol drinks. As some one pointed out at some point you will end up paying for something you are not using, maybe the hot tubs, the gym, the pool, the entertainment, afternoon tea, room service, children's programs etc. We just look at the cost per day per person to compare.